Yarmouth Camp Ground Historic District

The Yarmouth Camp Ground Historic District is a historic district encompassing a religious summer camp meeting ground in Yarmouth and Barnstable, Massachusetts. The core of the camp ground was purchased in 1863 by the Sandwich District Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist Episcopal organization, and was operated until 1939. The area contains a well-preserved collection of predominantly residential buildings built during this period; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.Description and historyThe Yarmouth Camp Ground is located in western Yarmouth and eastern Barnstable. It is located south of the mid-Cape Highway (Massachusetts Route 6), and is roughly bounded by County Ave., Willow St., Wood Rd., and Camp Ground Pond. Although Methodist Episcopalians had been holding camp meetings on Cape Cod since 1819, an earlier site in Eastham was logistically difficult to reach. This site was chosen in 1862, in part due to its proximity to the Yarmouth Depot, a train station just 1mi away. The property was at first developed in a somewhat haphazard, evolutionary way, focused on the main tabernacle, in contrast to other, more formally-planned camp meeting sites such as Wesleyan Grove. Over a 25-year period a network of paths and roadways grew, with tents used by early visitors eventually replaced by small Gothic cottages. The site was used for religious summer camps until 1939; in 1946 it was acquired by the Yarmouth Camp Ground Association, a secular organization established to own the area's common land and preserve the character of its buildings.